


Significant Civilians

by LadyEunhae



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Identity Reveal, Late Night Conversations, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25704337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyEunhae/pseuds/LadyEunhae
Summary: Ladybug is feeling insecure about her feelings for Adrien and wants some reassurance from her partner, so she asks him a significant question.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 16
Kudos: 288
Collections: Miraculous Ladybug and Cat/Chat Noir Reveal





	Significant Civilians

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't given up on OTPaladin. I have part of the next chapter written, but here's this in the mean time in case you're waiting.

“Have you ever been attracted to someone you rescued?” Ladybug asked, breaking the comfortable silence between them. She didn’t look at him as she spoke, but continued to stare out over the Paris skyline as if lost in thought.

The question was as painful as it was sudden. Cat Noir had known for ages that Ladybug didn’t return his feelings, known that she was in love with someone else, but to now learn that she had moments of attraction to some of the complete strangers that they rescued was another nail in his coffin. Especially given the fact that she had clearly never had such moments with him.

Despite his pain, he gave her question real consideration, returning his attention to the cars driving by below. She had been so stressed lately; he wanted to support her through whatever emotional roller coaster she was putting herself on. Maybe then she could move past it quickly and not let it cause her more distress. He could only come up with one person that fit the description. She wasn’t a stranger like the people Ladybug was probably talking about, but she was an attractive young women who has turned his head at least once during a rescue.

“Yes.” He said without elaborating.

“Which attack was it?” Ladybug pressed. She didn’t seem ready to talk about her own attraction yet. Cat Noir knew she would get to it, but she was stalling. Well, he wasn’t ready to talk about whoever it was that had gotten the attention of the elusive Ladybug yet either, so he would gladly play along.

“Any attack involving Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” He shrugged casually as if he wasn’t admitting his crush on his cute classmate out loud for the first time.

He felt the shift in the air as Ladybug whipped her head around to face him. “Y-you’re attracted to her?” she asked with just a hint of hysteria in her voice.

“I don’t know why you find that surprising. She’s pretty, smart, and funny.” he shot back defensively. Who was Ladybug to judge him for who he did or didn’t find attractive?

“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound… I mean… You can like whoever you want to. I just wasn’t expecting it.” Ladybug seemed off balance, which was strange in its own way. It didn’t seem like Ladybug had any special connection to Marinette apart from that one time during the Evillustrator attack. Why would the fact that he was attracted to Marinette be any different than if he was attracted to any other random civilian?

“You’re not going to start fl-flirting with her, are you?” Ladybug choked out fearfully.

“What’s the matter, M’lady? Are you jealous?” He felt hope rising in his chest against his better judgement. The conversation was supposed to be about Ladybug’s insecurities about liking civilians not about her feelings for him, lacking as they may be. Even as he felt hopeful, he knew that it was foolish. He knew there must be another explanation for her reaction. It couldn’t really be jealousy, but the teasing was necessary to wake her up so they could get back to the status quo. 

“No! I most definitely am not!” Ladybug somehow seemed more flustered. 

It was time to switch tactics. If silly flirting didn’t help in this situation, perhaps some sincerity might. “It wouldn’t work anyway. She doesn’t see me like that.” Cat Noir scowled down at the pavement several floors below them.

“That never stopped you with me” she whispered curiously. 

“Well, you’re different, aren’t you, M’lady? I can flirt with you and trust that our relationship will still be intact tomorrow. You’ve never backed down from me. You put me in my place. I trust you to tell me if I’ve gone too far.” Cat Noir sighed and ran his hands through his hair in frustration. He was just realizing himself why he had never allowed himself to flirt with Marinette; he had never been asked to think about it before.

“Marinette can be as timid as a mouse and I hardly ever get to know what she’s thinking. I never know if something I did offended her.” As he spoke, he thought back to his disastrous prank at the Grevin Museum. “…or if I clearly do offend her, she refuses to tell me why. No. I can’t flirt with her, or let her know my feelings. If I started to flirt with her, I could lose her as a friend and not even know it. Besides, she’s told me on multiple occasions that she doesn’t see me like that.” 

Cat Noir hoped that was enough to get Ladybug to feel ready to talk about her own problems. He was feeling drained and defeated; he didn’t think he could support her if he had to talk about his own shortcomings much longer. He looked over at his partner to see if she was ready to talk, only to be met with a slightly confused but steady stare.

“I didn’t know you two were that close.” Ladybug pronounced to the air, almost as if she had forgotten he was there though she was looking right at him.

“I visit her balcony sometimes” he supplied because he couldn’t tell her the real reason he had many more interactions with Marinette outside of hero duties.

“And during these visits, you feel she’s rejected you romantically?” Ladybug was starting to look like she was putting the pieces of a puzzle together, like she had a lucky charm in her hands and her miraculous was on its count-down timer. “…multiple times?” she muttered bewilderedly.

“Something like that…” Cat Noir deflected, growing uncomfortable under her scrutiny.

“Cat, was it on her balcony, or not?” Ladybug all but demanded.

“Not” he whimpered, knowing that he was giving away too much and now he’s going to get scolded. 

“Do you know her as a civilian?” Ladybug was on his trail now. It was only a matter of time before this line of questioning led her somewhere she had expressly stated she didn’t want to go.

“You don’t want to hear the answer to that question, Bug. Secret identities on the line, and all” he said without much conviction.

“’Secret identities’ plural?” she almost growled.

“’Secret identities’ in general” he defended, holding up his hands in a placating manner. He was starting to feel afraid he might have gotten himself in more trouble than just visiting a civilian while in uniform could warrant. 

She continued to glare at him for a long time, looking for something he wasn’t sure he could give her. Whatever it was, she must have found some form of satisfaction because the tension left her shoulders and she slouched into the roof they were sitting on.

“Another thing you said bothers me a bit…” she said with a chuckle, clearly avoiding whatever it was that had riled her up in the first place. “I don’t remember Marinette being a timid mouse.”

“You haven’t seen the way she acts around me then.” He felt that was a safe way to respond since it didn’t outright admit that he knows Marinette as a civilian, and Ladybug hasn’t been around to witness anyone’s behavior when he’s been with Marinette as Cat Noir. There was no need to address the fact that Marinette didn’t act like a timid mouse around Cat Noir, only around Adrien Agreste. 

“I’m pretty sure Marinette isn’t timid around you either, Cat Noir. What is an example of what you would call timid?” Ladybug was digging now. 

Well, fine. If she didn’t want to take his warning that it was too close to his identity, he wasn’t going to hold back either. Besides, it wasn’t like Ladybug knew the intimate details of Marinette’s everyday life. Who was to say if the examples he was about to give happened on a balcony visit or otherwise.

“She always stutters around me. She once said totographs when she was trying to say photographs…” Cat Noir didn’t stop talking when Ladybug gasped. “…and she was so flustered she didn’t even seem to notice her mistake. And… and that was one of the few times I allowed myself to try flirting with her. And one of the times she flat out told me she wasn’t interested in me romantically!” Chat Noir finished with an aggravated shout.

Ladybug whimpered, but Cat Noir couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He was wrecked and he still needed to listen to the part where Ladybug talked about the civilians she was attracted to. “So anyway…” he forced levity into his tone. “Who’re these civilians that have caught your eye?”

“Adrien.” Ladybug sounded like she was choking on that one word.

His head whipped up so he could meet her eyes, which were wide and wild.

“I’m only attracted to Adrien Agreste” she clarified, her voice raw with emotion. “I once told him that the totographs in my room were just there for my love of fashion because I was terrified he would reject me if I told him my true feelings…” Ladybug took a deep breath and Cat Noir took that time to try to process what he was hearing. “I lied to him and told him I wasn’t in love with him because I was embarrassed that he had seen my heart before I was ready to say it to his face.” She finished her story in a tone that was quiet but sure and Cat Noir knew that they would be alright. 

“So, what you’re saying is that neither Adrien nor Marinette are civilians, right?” Cat Noir felt the need to check while his insides melted into goo. Ladybug gave a short laugh and shook her head. “I’m afraid they’re not” she affirmed his statement.

“So Ladybug, have you ever been attracted to a civilian we’ve rescued?” Cat Noir asked his partner. Ladybug smiled and scooted closer to him as she said, “No, Cat Noir. I haven’t.”


End file.
